Welcome to Lyons On Wheels

I’m Dan Lyons – a writer/photographer, with a specialty in automobiles, new and old. I write new car reviews, a classic car column and a classic car blog for the Times Union newspaper. I've penned six books on classic cars, and photographed over 150 calendars to date.

As you browse through my site, you can preview all of my latest columns here. Click on the links, and they’ll take you to the complete articles on the Times Union’s site. We’ll also be archiving older articles, so you can catch up on any classic car pieces that you might have missed, or check out a review of a past year's car. If you're shopping for a new car, my Links page gives you one-stop access to all of the automaker's websites, for more information.

You’ll also find some samples of my photography here, as well as news of any new projects that I’m working on (calendars, books, etc.). Thanks for stopping by.

New Car Reviews

Featured Classic

1957 Dodge D-100 Sweptside

Dodge had a problem. They were a day late and a dollar short. Late, because Chevy was already out of the gate with the dressy, upscale Cameo Carrier pickup (and Ford was soon to follow, with their half car/half truck Ranchero). Short, because there wasn’t enough money on hand for anything more than a modest makeover.

Wrapping something old in something new is a time-honored practice for marketing. That’s certainly true for automakers, where the economics of manufacturing simply don’t allow for all new products, every year. True now, true then, and the lineup that Chrysler rolled out fifty years ago was a case in point. The chiseled, conservative styling for 1963 was new, courtesy of designer Elwood Engel. Beneath the skin, though, the cars were largely unchanged from 1962. However, Chrysler showed uncommon confidence in the carry-over. At a time when extended warranties were largely unheard of, the company announced a five year/50,000 mile plan for their 1963 models, and in the process, caught the competition napping.

Auctions are of interest to old car buffs for many reasons. For one thing, they provide information. These snapshots of car values are all pieces of the puzzle, when you’re trying to figure out what a vehicle is worth. They can also provide a diversion.

That fact, and the numbers that flow from it (707 horsepower, 650 lb. ft. of torque, 11 seconds for the quarter mile, 204 mph top speed) in a factory warrantied production car, may well trump all other considerations. Time will tell.